A husband and wife from Lebanon were walking into Sunday night's
concert by two of Christian music's best-known artists ever, Steve Taylor
and Peter Furler.

The man took a quick look around the concert venue, and smiled.

"It's amazing how many bald heads are here tonight!" he chortled.

Many of those heads probably weren't bald back when Taylor, the
iconoclastic, energetic, authority-provoking (and prolific)
singer-songwriter, and Furler, long-time frontman for the chart-topping
band the Newsboys, were staples on Christian radio in the 1980s, 1990s
and (in Furler's case) the 2000s.

There were indeed some "seasoned" adults among the 450 or so who nearly
packed the Junction Center tent, at Christian radio station WJTL-FM,
Sunday along Junction Road in East Hempfield Township.

But the older guys up on stage, Furler and then headliner Taylor, made
them feel young again by rocking the tent with a great, powerful
three-hour concert that was a mix of the nostalgic and the new.

Taylor, now 56, dressed in a sharp suit and tie (made me, at least,
think of Robert Palmer's '80s video for "Addicted to Love") had the energy
of a man half his age as he tore through such classic, ground-breaking
songs of his as New Wave-era "Meltdown," "We Don't Need No Colour Code"
and "Easy Listening," with most of the crowd answering Taylor's "Easy"
with "Listening" and "Barry" with "Manilow."

The Peter Furler Band primed the crowd at the
Junction Center Sunday night in Manheim.
Image: Randy Hess

The younger (47) Furler played a rousing hour-long opening set of
Newsboys and solo material, then, after a 15-minute intermission,
continued his long musical relationship with his friend Taylor by playing
the drums for Taylor's own energy-packed 90-minute show.

Furler, on guitar for his own set, only had two others in his band, but
they were tremendous: Dave Ghazarian (formerly of Superchick and Audio
Adrenaline) brought an extremely active, high-treble bass and Jeff
Irizarry was Keith Moon-like on drums.

"There's only three of us, so we're trying to make as much noise as
possible ... none of that pre-recorded-track rubbish," Aussie Furler said
with a smile at the start of his show.

Furler's set: "Something Beautiful"; "Million Pieces (Kissin' Your
Cares Goodbye)"; early-'90s Newsboys smash "Not Ashamed"; new radio single
"Sun and Shield"; a surprise, excellent, number, "Spirits in the Material
World" by the Police; "Dare I Say," also from the new "Sun and Shield";
"Reach"; mid-90s Newsboys number "Lost the Plot"; the new "It's All Right"
(For Lazarus)"; huge early-90s Newsboys' hit "Shine"; early 2000s hit "He
Reigns": and the catchy singalong "I Am Free" ended it in excellent
fashion.

Furler, always playful in his stage comments, said a young guy told
Furler he hadn't even been born when the singer wrote "Not Ashamed"
20-plus years ago.

"Shut up, kid, I was 4 when I wrote it, OK?" Furler said he told him,
and everyone laughed.

Taylor has had a long association with Furler, having written a slew of
Newsboys' songs, from the early "I'm Not Ashamed" to the catchy singalong
"Breakfast," which many consider to be one of the best songs ever in
Christian music.

Taylor also has been an active filmmaker and songwriter for other
artists, from the harder-edged Christian band Guardian to the
Continentals.

"His fingerprints are all over the best of Christian music" through the
years, John DiBiase, founder of jesusfreakhideout.com, the influential
Christian music website, explained before Sunday's show.

"He's been an icon of Christian music for a lot of years. He was on the
cutting edge back then, and I'm interested in seeing where he is going to
go" with his new music, DiBiase added.

It's been more than 20 years since Taylor released his last new album,
"Squint," but now he has re-emerged musically with a popular new radio
single, "A Life Preserved," and promised his fans Sunday that there will
soon be a new album.

"We're going to play some new songs for you just to prove that we do
have a new album," he joked.

Along with Furler on drums, Taylor, who looked a little Steven
Tyler-ish with the mike stand, was backed by a top-notch band of his own
(Jimmy Abegg on guitar and John Mark Painter on bass).

Highlights of Taylor's stint Sunday included a lighter version of "A
Life Preserved" than the one on the radio, and Taylor's first concert
version of "Meltdown" in, according to the artist, decades.

"So if it's a train wreck, I can't think of a nicer place to have a
train wreck than in Lancaster," he declared, but the roar of the crowd
when "Meltdown" ended told him, this was no train wreck.

The crowd Sunday was the largest so far on the Taylor-Furler tour, some
on hand said.

David O'Connor is a Lancaster Newspapers reporter who covers
suburban government, off-the-field news for the Lancaster Barnstormers and
general-assignment issues.